KAM-Q compared with X1 Search
An honest comparison of two desktop search tools, including where X1 is the better choice.
X1 Search is the established product in this category and has been for years. It is a serious tool. Here is how the two differ.
Where they differ
| KAM-Q | X1 Search | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $39.99 first year, $19.99 a year after | Roughly $96 to $119 per user per year |
| Installations per licence | Four | One seat per licence |
| Mac | Yes, for Outlook and Apple Mail | Windows only |
| Searches files on your computer | No, mail and attachments only | Yes |
| SharePoint and OneDrive | No | Yes |
| Ranked view of who emails you | Yes | No |
| If you stop paying | Keeps working on everything already indexed | Subscription only |
| Refund | 30 days, no conditions | Trial before buying |
Where X1 is better
X1 searches your whole computer, not just your mail. If you want one search box for documents, email and cloud storage together, X1 does that and KAM-Q does not. Its preview pane is excellent, you can reply and forward from the results, and its SharePoint and OneDrive connectors pull cloud documents into the same list. For a team already inside Microsoft 365, that matters.
Where KAM-Q is better
Price. Five years of KAM-Q costs less than one year of X1.
Mac. X1 is Windows only. KAM-Q has a signed, notarized Mac app for classic Outlook and a separate one for Apple Mail, and one licence covers both.
The People view. KAM-Q ranks everyone who writes to you, shows when they tend to write, and gathers every file they have ever sent in one place. Nothing else does this.
You keep what you paid for. Stop renewing and KAM-Q still opens and still searches everything it has already indexed. Renewing pays for keeping the index current and for new versions, not for permission to use it.
Nothing leaves your computer. KAM-Q reads your mail through Outlook or Apple Mail and keeps its index in your own folder.
Which to choose
If you need to search documents and cloud storage alongside your mail, and the price is not an obstacle, X1 is the more complete tool. If what you actually lose time to is finding email, attachments and the people who sent them, and you want it on a Mac or at a fraction of the cost, that is what KAM-Q was built for.